June 22, 2015  

NEW ORLEANS — The collegiate track & field season is over. Here are the 10 men selected by the Bowerman Watch List Committee as the Semifinalists for the 2015 Bowerman.

Shawn Barber, Edward Cheserek, Marquis Dendy, Trayvon Bromell, Michael Stigler, Maicel Uibo,Conor McCullough, and Omar McLeod all went from the final Watch List to Semifinalist status after competing at the NCAA finals in Eugene.

Sprinters Vernon Norwood and Andre De Grasse were not on the pre-NCAA Championships Watch List, but are in the final 10 men under consideration after winning their events at outdoor nationals.

Click each athletes names for a full breakdown of their 2014-15 track & field seasons.

From these 10 men, three will be named Finalists for The Bowerman Trophy on July 8.

All 10 men won at least one NCAA championship in 2015. Akron’s Barber broke the collegiate indoor record in the pole vault and Arkansas’s McLeod broke the college indoor record in the 60 hurdles.

Barber did not lose to a collegian this year. The junior cleared the three best heights in collegiate history indoors, topping out at 5.91m (19-4¾) at the NCAA championships in Fayetteville. He then cleared the same height outdoors in May, making him the second best collegiate vaulter ever. Barber won the MAC vault indoors and out.

McLeod didn’t lose to a collegian all year in the hurdles, though he competed in a wide array of events. Indoors–on his home track at NCAAs–he broke an eighteen-year-old collegiate record in the 60 hurdles, winning the event in 7.45 seconds. Then outdoors he won the NCAA title in the 110 hurdles in 13.01 seconds; though wind-aided, that’s the second fastest time ever by a collegian. He also ran a leg on Arkansas’s championship winning 4×100 relay and the Razorbacks’ sixth place 4×400. The Jamaican sophomore won the short hurdles at both SEC championships this year.

Oregon’s Cheserek focused entirely on winning NCAA championships in 2015, and collected a handful. He won the mile, anchored the Ducks’ winning distance medley relay, and took second in the 3000 at indoor nationals, and swept the 10k and 5k at outdoor nationals. Oregon’s 9:27.02 distance medley indoors–on an oversized track–makes them the third fastest school ever in the event. Cheserek won the 5000 at the outdoor Pac-12 championships.

Dendy swept the long and triple jumps at indoor and outdoor NCAAs and SECs this year. The Florida senior won a dramatic long jump by exactly a centimeter at indoor nationals, then came back and won the triple jump at 17.37m (57-0), which is the third best indoor mark ever by a collegian and the best since the mid-’80s. Outdoor nationals was the same story: he won the long jump by nine centimeters over Arkansas’s Jarrion Lawson, then won the triple jump and posted a historically great mark on his final jump. His winning outdoor triple jump mark of 17.71m (58-1¼) was wind-aided, but the third best ever by a collegian in all conditions.

Like Dendy, De Grasse swept his events in Eugene with nearly unprecedented marks. The Southern California junior won the 100 in 9.75 seconds and then forty-five minutes later won the 200 in 19.58. Though De Grasse got a little help from the wind, no collegian ever–with or without wind–had run that fast in the 200. And his 100 time is unparalleled at low altitude. Outside of the friendly confines of Hayward Field, he took second in the 200 at indoor NCAAs and swept the 100, 200, and 4×100 at the Pac-12 championships.

His teammate McCullough made the most of a sixth year of eligibility that was only granted in late January. McCullough took second in a dramatic weight throw at indoor nationals. His runner-up toss of 24.48m (58-1¼) makes him the third best collegiate weight thrower ever and the second best among the Division I ranks. Outdoors, he was utterly dominant in the hammer throw. In Eugene, he won with a throw of 76.91m (252-4). That makes him the seventh best collegiate performer ever in the event and the best in the last thirteen years.

Baylor sophomore Bromell was eclipsed by De Grasse outdoors, but edged him out for an indoor national title in the 200. Bromell’s winning time of 20.19 seconds there made him the second fastest collegiate performer ever in the event. At the outdoor finals in Eugene, he was second in the 100 and third in the 200, posting blazing fast times in both. His 9.90 in the 100 semifinals was just a tenth of a second shy of the wind-legal collegiate record, and his wind-aided 19.86 in the 200 final was the fifth fastest ever by a collegian in all conditions.

LSU’s Norwood swept the indoor and outdoor national titles in the 400 meters and ran a leg on the Tigers’ winning 4×400 at outdoor nationals. The senior’s winning time of 45.31 at indoor nationals makes him the 10th best indoor performer ever, and his 44.44 on his home track in April makes him the ninth best outdoor performer ever. He was third in the 400 and the 4×4 at his indoor conference meet and second in both events at the SEC outdoor meet.

After two straight years ending as the runner-up in the 400 hurdles, Kansas’s Stigler capped his career with an outdoor national title in the event in 2015. The senior didn’t lose a 400 meter hurdles race all year, with a personal best in the event of 48.44 seconds. He tripled at the Big 12 indoor meet, with top five finishes in the 60 hurdles, 400, and 4×4, and he quadrupled at the outdoor conference championships. In addition to winning the 400 hurdles there, he also grabbed points for the Jayhawks in the 110 hurdles and both relays.

In less than a month, Uibo turned in two of the five best decathlon scores in collegiate history. The Georgia junior won the SEC decathlon with a score of 8,326 points–making him the fourth best collegiate decathlete ever–then improved his personal best by thirty points with a winning score of 8,356 at the NCAA championships. Only outdoor world champions Trey Hardee, Tom Pappas, and Ashton Eaton ever exceeded those scores as collegians, and they only did so once each.

The women’s Semifinalists will be announced tomorrow.

ABOUT THE BOWERMAN

The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.

Oregon’s Laura Roesler and Texas A&M’s Deon Lendore are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.

Past winners include Olympic gold medalist, World Champion and decathlon world-record holder Ashton Eaton (2010), 10,000-meter Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp (2009), 2011 IAAF World Champion at 1500 meters Jenny Simpson (2009), 2013 100-meter hurdles World Champion Brianna Rollins (2013) and 2012 Olympic high jump bronze medalist Derek Drouin (2013).

In total, the winners from the award’s first four years have won three Olympic Medals, two World Championships and six World Championships medals. When considering finalists for the award, 13 individuals have earned a combined seven Olympic medals, four World Championships and 17 World Championships medals.

Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.

For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.